While I was working with Bernardo Rey (Artistic Director - Teatro CENIT) on Woyzeck: Fragments in Solitude in 2011, we built the mask that I would wear as Woyzeck in the performance.
Between the two of us, the process took maybe 72 hours of design and construction. It's worth noting that this is a recreation of a mask we built for Butler University's production of Woyzeck in 2010, so much of the design work had already been done. It's even more worth noting that what I could do in one hour, Bernardo could do in about 10 minutes. The man is an absolute master and I learned an enormous amount from him about performance, directing, and design.
One particularly exacting stage of the build included beveling triangles of leather along the bottom seam and covering them with another beveled leather strip on the inside of the mask. I asked Bernardo how necessary it was to be precise since the audience wouldn't see it anyway. His response below is paraphrased, but the spirit of it has stuck with me:
"The audience might not see it, but I'll know. And you'll know."
Between the two of us, the process took maybe 72 hours of design and construction. It's worth noting that this is a recreation of a mask we built for Butler University's production of Woyzeck in 2010, so much of the design work had already been done. It's even more worth noting that what I could do in one hour, Bernardo could do in about 10 minutes. The man is an absolute master and I learned an enormous amount from him about performance, directing, and design.
One particularly exacting stage of the build included beveling triangles of leather along the bottom seam and covering them with another beveled leather strip on the inside of the mask. I asked Bernardo how necessary it was to be precise since the audience wouldn't see it anyway. His response below is paraphrased, but the spirit of it has stuck with me:
"The audience might not see it, but I'll know. And you'll know."